What is Absolutely Bloody Marvellous ABM?!
Well, I’ve recently been reading up on articles surrounding the topic of ABM (Account Based Marketing), including the plethora of best practice guides that are out there. Many include an abundance of information on the various tactics, strategies and methodologies a B2B marketeer can apply in order to implement an ABM approach.
These best practice guides are really useful in conveying the planning, strategy and content considerations that should go behind constructing a message for an ABM campaign, but I’m sure that if you’re a B2B marketer reading this, then you’re already pretty well-versed!
So with this in mind, hopefully my blog opens a few marketers’ eyes up to the other side of Account Based Marketing, the creative! Well-executed creative (i.e. the deliverables your audience actually engages with) can actually turn an ABM ‘message’ into an ‘Absolutely Bloody Marvellous’ conversation that your target account(s) are much more likely to be positively responsive towards. After all, ABM should be about ensuring a two-way dialogue is actively encouraged to enable closer business relationships and build your company’s reputation further.
Affari are a specialised agency who are able to support with both the creative and final deliverables of ABM campaigns, but the nature of what we do also means we have to practise what we preach and create successful ABM campaigns for ourselves as well as our clients. This is where my responsibilities within Affari lie, and to summarise my role…
I’m essentially marketing to marketeers… about marketing!
It’s not been an easy task, mainly because these marketeers are all really chuffing clever, and unsurprisingly, most don’t actually like being marketed too! But over the three and a bit years I’ve worked for Affari, I’ve been able to apply Account Based Marketing as a technique to…
Market to marketeers about marketing without actually marketing to them….
…Confused?!
Welcome to my world, but there’s always solutions to even the most difficult challenges and thus far I’ve solved these through getting creative. Yes, it’s also been really important to be strategic and ensure I am targeting relevant individuals with personalised and specific messaging, but it’s always the creative and the way in which it has been delivered that has been the catalyst in creating new conversations with my audience.
It can be tempting in ABM to stick to what you know in terms of content delivery, such as PowerPoints and digital brochures. These are often the most simple and cost-effective methods but they can lack the intrigue and curiosity a more creative approach would enable.
Here are some alternative ideas, in both physical and digital formats, that have been the catalyst for some great conversations and in turn, delivered fantastic ROI’s for my own campaigns. Hopefully these will inspire you to think a little differently about the final creative process in your ABM campaigns and consider a more disruptive, thought-provoking approach!
1. ’The Affari Quadrant’ – This campaign was delivered in the form of a traditional newspaper, sent directly to our accounts’ offices with complimentary tea and biscuits and individual, hand-written compliment slips! The content in the newspaper was tailored to one account and featured relevant articles, case studies and projects, created specifically for their job roles and industry sector as an aid to provide our customers with new knowledge, fresh insights and inspiration.
2. ‘Getting to know Affari’ – This campaign was created for an account with whom we had not previously worked with. It’s purpose was to provide a highly personalised, one-to-one approach communicating how Affari could work in partnership with this person and their company to support their vision. To do this, we sent a unique welcome package, comprising of a multitude of separate boxes. The boxes were numbered and to be opened in order to unfold a story of discovery. The first box remained largely unambiguous with no branding, just an orange telephone with the note ‘We want to start a great conversation with you’. The final stage of ‘getting to know Affari’ with personalised video messages from the team and a beautifully crafted brochure, a perfect hybrid between digital and printed assets to demonstrate the full spectrum of our capabilities.
3. ‘The Affari Qube’ – A password protected microsite that housed a series of relevant projects for one key account. Each user was sent their own individual login details in the form of an ingeniously designed web key, which, when inserted into their PC or laptop, accessed their own digital hub with the key interface being an interactive Rubix Cube which allowed them to access the most relevant content by selecting from a series of categories, each square relating to a specific area of interest. As GDPR comes into play next May, there are now more regulations surrounding microsites due to their use of data capture, however, this kind of approach can be easily reworked by setting up secure pages on your current website.
If you would like to discuss any ideas around how to make your ABM approach more creative, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! emma@affarimedia.com
